It's been an uncomfortable weekend for vice-chancellors. Should we sympathise? Not really, as former Guardian editor Peter Preston explains:

"A
painstaking Telegraph analysis this weekend showed 950 university staff paid more than the prime minister, an 8% jump year on year. Examining the accounts of 87 different universities, three-quarters of their vice-chancellors were found to have carried on as though oblivious to the squeeze. Eleven of them had taken rises of over 10%. Watch Brunel and Plymouth, up 18% and 20%, close in on Oxford, up a mere 17%.

And all this, of course, at a moment of tuition fee increases, huge funding cutbacks and rippling student protest. Now, how do you fit rising enrichment and rising impoverishment together? Cue in all the usual stuff about world class universities needing world class administrators. Then ask where Professor Purcell at Plymouth, on £283,504 after her 20% boost, sits in the world class league (or why the early-retired head of Gloucestershire University, on £229,000 as she departed, was worth more than the head of Radio Four, let alone the saintly Vince [Cable], last sighted by me hunched in a very crowded standard class rail carriage bound for Manchester)?"

More education news from the Guardian and Observer

"Currently, 2,807 pupils take advantage of free school meals in Merton, but Merton estimates that there are many more pupils who could benefit from the service. Merton has one of the lowest take-ups in comparison with its more prosperous neighbouring boroughs. If parents of those pupils currently not registered for free school meals sign up for the service through the council's school admissions office, Merton's schools would receive many thousands of pounds in total to spend on new school equipment, books or extra teachers."

•Six local authorities will take the government to court this week to try to overturn its decision to cancel their multimillion-pound school rebuilding projects, Rachel Williams reports. They are seeking a judicial review of the axing of their Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programmes.

• And watch out for Warwick Mansell's story later today on the timing of A-level results.

Education news from around the web

• Anger is growing over government plans to publish league tables for five-year-olds, the TES reports. A petition started by Frances Laing, a journalist, blogger and mother of a five-year-old, has already attracted more than 880 signatures, including that of children's author Michael Rosen. Thanks to @kalinski1970 for drawing attention to this story – he's calling on everyone to sign the petition.

•Delay in speech development is a barrier to learning to read, says Ofsted. The BBC says its report on literacy praised phonics teaching but said barriers in communication skills needed to be overcome as well and highlighted how many children who struggle with literacy skills have experienced a "disturbed start to life".

• A woman who had part of her brain removed five years ago in a high-risk operation to beat epilepsy will graduate from the University of Derby, with a first class BSc (Hons) in psychology and counselling studies.

• A primary school head has apologised after telling pupils Britain was under attack during a project to study the second world war. Some children at St Mary's RC School in Bacup, Lancashire, were left distressed and unable to sleep following the re-enactment in which an air-raid siren was sounded and they were led to a mocked-up bomb-shelter.

"Gay messages built into school maths lessons for children as young as FOUR"

it thunders.

"Young children are to be taught about homosexuality in their maths, geography, science and English lessons, it has emerged"

begins the story itself – which is written by one Kate Loveys (!) and is based on what the DfE calls "optional teaching materials" for LGBT history month.

Competition

Children aged between seven and 14 can now enter the Young Human Rights reporter of the year competition, run by learnnewsdesk, the Guardian's online news service for schools, and Amnesty International. A winner and two runners-up in the primary and secondary school categories will win a trip to Amnesty International and the Guardian headquarters in London as well as an MP3 recorder. The closing date for entries is 14 February.